Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

This workshop provides a hands-on experience in wheel throwing and soda firing. Students will experiment with altering and incorporating various flashing slips to enhance the aesthetic aspects of their work. Participants are encouraged to bring gathered materials, such as sand and small stones, to be added to slips. Each material can provide unique textures, patterns, or even contrasting colors. This process adds both aesthetic and tactile dimensions to the fired works. The combination of wheel throwing, alterations, slip additions and atmospheric firing allows for a diverse range of artistic expression. Fresh ways of throwing will be demonstrated, and individual attention emphasized.

Chad Steve was raised in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. He received his BFA from University of Wisconsin-Stout and his MFA from University of Hawaii at Manoa where he worked as an adjunct professor and a lab technician. Chad has instructed at a variety of institutions. He’s had the honor of being an artist-in-resident at Clay Studio of Missoula and the Armory Art Center. He’s currently the Director of Ceramics and Sculpture at the Lighthouse Art Center in Tequesta, Florida.

Learn more: ceramicchadsteve.com

Fee: $570 (includes first bag of clay + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Beginner To Intermediate

If you are looking to improve your skills in throwing great pots with porcelain, this workshop is for you. Come study in our sunny studio with one of the most gifted teachers of the craft while focusing on making better pots. Through demonstrations, practice, and discussions, students will explore the anatomy of pots, and concentrate on aspects of their craft that deserve improvement. From feet to bellies, lids, glazing and beyond, more successful pots are guaranteed. Students will take home to their studios a greater knowledge of their own approach and ‘voice’, as well as greenware, bisqueware, and high fired celadons from our gas reduction kiln!

Francine Epstein is a ceramicist and educator based in Chester, New Jersey. For over 20 years, she has nurtured a thriving community of artists through her teaching studio. Her passion for the medium extends beyond the studio walls, where she cultivates an encouraging teaching practice. Francine has supported aspiring artists of all ages, sharing her knowledge and inspiring students to embrace responsible creative practices and appreciate the role of Art in society. Epstein is a “gem,” according to anyone who has been fortunate to cross paths with her.

Fee: $560 (includes first bag of clay) + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Beginner

Last year, this revolutionary way of learning to work with clay was invented right here at Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts. Have a blast getting creative in this workshop with three Dynamos! Come be a part of a new paradigm in learning how to work with clay ... under the guidance of three amazing artists. Students will learn wheel throwing, hand building, glazing, and raku firing ... each technique important to building skills and knowledge quickly. You’ll feel like you’re in excellent hands with these Instructors who know how to work with clay, enthusiastically share their knowledge, and set the right pace and atmosphere for learning.

Marilyn Katz has been studying both hand built, and wheel thrown ceramics at The Art School at Old Church in New Jersey for many years. She currently has a studio in her home where she builds sculpture and throws pots. Marilyn is a member of the “The Firing Squad” at Old Church, helping to fire the community’s gas kilns. Marilyn has taught ceramics at Gilda’s Club of Northern New Jersey. Katz is an attorney, environmental advocate, and citizenship volunteer.

Gail Rutigliano is a mixed-media artist who works primarily in ceramics. "I find clay to be a meditative guiding force in which I also use paint and collage to express how I feel about current events." Gail has been part of the community at The Art School Old Church (NJ) for over a decade. Currently a member of the school's "Firing Squad" helping to fire the gas kilns, she creates porcelain jewelry, and hand built, or wheel thrown, pots for home and garden. Rutigliano is on the Board of Directors of The Art School in Demarest, New Jersey.

Karen Stern is a part-time potter and full-time clay enthusiast from northern New Jersey. She has been making pottery for 15+ years, with a focus on wheel thrown functional ceramics. She has studied at The Art School at Old Church, Penland School of Crafts, Snow Farm and Sugar Maples. Her work has been exhibited at Old Church, The Belskie Museum, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and Noyes Arts Garage. Stern is a TV Producer with a pottery addiction and is on the Board of Directors at The Art School at Old Church.

Fee: $350 + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Intermediate To Advanced

This workshop explores a technique called "volumetric image transfer." We'll start with wheel-throwing and tile demos, then move on to creating silkscreens with your own designs. By the end of day one, you'll have your own silkscreen and understand how to set up a low-tech darkroom. We'll also explore form and function, and you'll gain a deeper understanding of wheel throwing and design principles. There's plenty of time to develop your work and incorporate image transfer into your studio practice.

Forrest Lesch-Middelton, a California potter and educator, found his passion for clay at 14. His functional pottery and tiles are infused with rich political and cultural themes. Lesch-Middelton is renowned for his inventive "volumetric image transfer" technique, where he screen-prints patterns onto wet pottery. He's a recipient of the distinguished Ceramic Artist of the Year award and holds an MFA from Utah State University and BFA from Alfred University.

Learn more: flmceramics.com

Fee: $610 (includes first bag of clay) + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Beginner To Advanced

Learning to sculpt the figure is a process that is both exciting and challenging. With good instruction, you will enjoy the process of creating a torso that tells your own personal story In this workshop we will construct the torso using slab construction. Emphasis will be on the face and hands, giving expression to your piece. The incorporation of metal and fabric dipped in slip will give your work another level of freshness and excitement. Surface treatments will be explored on wet clay as well as glazes and post fired finishes, giving you many possibilities to enrich your final sculpture.

Lisa Clague is an internationally known sculptor. She received her BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art and her MFA from California College of Arts and Crafts. She has been the recipient of the North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship Grant and twice received the Virginia Groot Foundation Grant. Clague's work has been exhibited at the Macon Museum of Art, Georgia; the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Massachusetts's; the Udinotti Museum of Figurative Sculpture, Arizona and the John Elder Gallery, New York.

Learn more: lisaclagueart.com

Fee: $565 (includes first bag of clay) + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee